We have reached the digital era, everyone has some source of technology capable of accessing the internet. There is no need to look into an encyclopedia to learn about a subject. Instead with the click of a few buttons, millions of educational opportunities are at our fingertips. Textbooks now are just a nuisance which take up space and have ridiculous costs. Why spend the amount of a community college tuition on textbooks when the internet is free and at your leisure? Without textbooks students are able to apply critical thinking more effectively by pulling knowledge from different sources to get a conclusion. This can also open up a new way of teaching where the students and teacher work together to make problems and help with real issues. Teaching without textbooks can actually increase students intellect.

Students also believe that textbooks are a waste of money and natural resources. For example, a student at Weslaco high school states, “They constantly change and schools don’t always have all the money in the world to keep updating them, and don’t get me started on all the paper we’re wasting.”  Personally, I can agree with this because at Saint Louis we use laptops and it has decreased the amount of paper we use tremendously not only decreasing weight to my backpack but helping me stay organized with everything on my computer. Which is why most schools now are beginning to switch to technology and let students have classes on computers. With the new technological era people are realizing textbooks are no longer needed.

Should schools continue to use textbooks, why or why not?

Valley Morning Star, 24 Sept. 2012, “Should Schools Continue to Use Textbooks, Why or Why Not?”

www.valleymorningstar.com/sie/fresh_ink/should-schools-continue-to-use-textbooks-why-or-why-not/article_3f03f35c-0692-11e2-959d-0019bb30f31a.html.

Rulo, Carey. “Building Intelligence Plus Character.” Just Say No to Textbooks: Alternatives to Feeding the Textbook Monopoly, 1 Jan. 1970, buildingintelligencepluscharacter.blogspot.com/2012/08/just-say-no-to-textbooks-alternatives.html.

AMA Networks. “Desktop Management.” San Diego Desktop Management, www.amanetworks.com/san-diego-managed-it-services/desktop-management-services/.